BRRI releases 2 new stress-tolerant rice varieties
Sunday, 10 April 2011
FE Report
The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Saturday released two new stress-tolerant varieties of rice, namely, BRRI Dhan 51 and BRRI Dhan 52 for formal cultivation in flood-affected areas which could produce grain after two weeks of submergence. Officials of BRRI said at the inauguration ceremony of the rice that for ensuring and strengthening the food security programme of the South Asian and African nation stress-tolerant varieties of rice must have to be adapted to the changing behaviour of the climate. The new two varieties would also be very effective in increasing the production in Bangladesh, they said. The ceremony organised by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was held at a convention centre in city. BRRI with the help of IRRI introduced the varieties under the programme "Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) Phase-2", funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Agriculture Secretary C.Q.K Mustaqe Ahmed said, "We have to increase our production parallel to the growing population of the country," while speaking at the programme as the chief guest. He highly emphasised the need for scientific researches for introducing new drought, salt and flood tolerant varieties of rice which could boost production. Executive Director of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) Wais Kabir said, "we have self-sufficiency in food grains but still we have more chances to greatly increase our food output." He said: "The north-western and the southern parts of the country are suffering from drought and salinity respectively; for the stressed condition of these areas the country is being deprived of a large crop output." "To get significant crop production from these areas we have to adopt modern agricultural technologies and have to introduce stress-tolerant varieties of crops," the BARC chief added. Project leader of STRASA Abdelbagi Ismail presented the objectives of the STRASA. In his presentation he said the first motto of the project is to develop germplasm which means introduction of drought, submergence and salinity-tolerant varieties of rice. He said, "The intermediate goal of the project is to develop stress-tolerant breeding varieties with higher yield of quality grain and resistance to prevent biotic stress." IRRI representative for Bangladesh M. Zainul Abedin in his address of welcome said the STRASA Phase-2 is a three-year project. The Phase-1 has been in operation since 2008, he said. Director General (DG) of BRRI M.A Mannan, DG of seed wing of agriculture ministry Anwar Faruque, DG of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) M A Sattar and Executive Director of BRAC Mahbub Hossain, among others, spoke on the occasion. According to the BRRI officials, the new two varieties have emerged from BRRI-11 and these are totally 'Inbreeds', whose per hectare yield is nearly 5.0 tonnes.
The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Saturday released two new stress-tolerant varieties of rice, namely, BRRI Dhan 51 and BRRI Dhan 52 for formal cultivation in flood-affected areas which could produce grain after two weeks of submergence. Officials of BRRI said at the inauguration ceremony of the rice that for ensuring and strengthening the food security programme of the South Asian and African nation stress-tolerant varieties of rice must have to be adapted to the changing behaviour of the climate. The new two varieties would also be very effective in increasing the production in Bangladesh, they said. The ceremony organised by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was held at a convention centre in city. BRRI with the help of IRRI introduced the varieties under the programme "Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) Phase-2", funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Agriculture Secretary C.Q.K Mustaqe Ahmed said, "We have to increase our production parallel to the growing population of the country," while speaking at the programme as the chief guest. He highly emphasised the need for scientific researches for introducing new drought, salt and flood tolerant varieties of rice which could boost production. Executive Director of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) Wais Kabir said, "we have self-sufficiency in food grains but still we have more chances to greatly increase our food output." He said: "The north-western and the southern parts of the country are suffering from drought and salinity respectively; for the stressed condition of these areas the country is being deprived of a large crop output." "To get significant crop production from these areas we have to adopt modern agricultural technologies and have to introduce stress-tolerant varieties of crops," the BARC chief added. Project leader of STRASA Abdelbagi Ismail presented the objectives of the STRASA. In his presentation he said the first motto of the project is to develop germplasm which means introduction of drought, submergence and salinity-tolerant varieties of rice. He said, "The intermediate goal of the project is to develop stress-tolerant breeding varieties with higher yield of quality grain and resistance to prevent biotic stress." IRRI representative for Bangladesh M. Zainul Abedin in his address of welcome said the STRASA Phase-2 is a three-year project. The Phase-1 has been in operation since 2008, he said. Director General (DG) of BRRI M.A Mannan, DG of seed wing of agriculture ministry Anwar Faruque, DG of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) M A Sattar and Executive Director of BRAC Mahbub Hossain, among others, spoke on the occasion. According to the BRRI officials, the new two varieties have emerged from BRRI-11 and these are totally 'Inbreeds', whose per hectare yield is nearly 5.0 tonnes.